Thursday, October 21, 2010

Our last official vacation…

Heading down under to Sydney Australia will mark the end of vacations as we know them… this will be the last official vacation we take.  Since we retire in March the only other time off we will have will be the holiday time off during Thanksgiving and Christmas. This fact along with the fact that October is the month of our wedding anniversary and the 55th birthday of my bride we decided to go “whole hog” and take a large trip.

cruise 2-15-09After monitoring airfare for seemingly a lifetime we bought the tickets and booked a cruise to the south pacific.  When we get back we will be nearer the “less than 100 days working left” mark and closer to retirement.  Now we plan to enter a fulltime lifestyle on the road and many of our friends have said that we will then be on perennial vacation… but I have learned from all those full timers ahead of me that it will not be a vacation, merely a new way of life…

… hope to see you soon…  in about three weeks!

Sunday, October 17, 2010

The silver lining…

The words I read today were…tragic and shocking! Most every blog I read today spoke about the travesty that the families of Bruce and Margie have to come to grips with. Taking a walk… a seemingly benign thing to do. But doing exactly what they wanted to do…and you know there is always a silver lining in every grey cloud…

I too only knew Bruce and Margie through their blog and their comments.  However, it was very apparent how happy they were with their lifestyle and their freedom. Their children have been blessed with the gift of their words that they left in their blog. The silver lining is that their words will carry on in cyberspace for a long time.. inspiring others to take a chance, take a risk, and not be complacent with life as it is… You must not wait too long to enjoy life!

Life is fragile! Life is fleeting… we should all on a risk and do something that others say we shouldn’t… be wise and take that chance and find something other than the daily mundane normalcy of everyday life as a working stiff. You see anything at any time can change your life drastically in a split second…

Live life to its fullest… you just don’t know when it will end…

Friday, October 15, 2010

Practicing retirement…

A week from today we will begin our 17 day vacation which we are looking forward too and viewing as a chance to practice retirement… Time off from the day to day trivialities of our working life.  We have been on this long road to retirement for quite some time now and we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

With the remaining time left before we retire we will still have the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. So not a lot of fulltime working days left for us, but the remaining working days I look forward to the least are the Mondays.

cruise 2-15-09Mondays (for me) have always been like a butterfly flying into a headwind… you work hard all day and end up getting nowhere (or so it seems). I look forward to the days that Mondays are like a butterfly floating on the sea breezes… where one puts out little effort to explore new and exciting places.  Which butterfly are you?  Which one would you rather be?

wake So although we won’t be in an RV during our practice retirement we will be in a very small confined space also known as an interior cabin.  This will be a chance for us to get to know each other better : ) A chance to practice retirement…Well, in about ten days we will land in Sydney, Australia and we hope that for the two weeks after that we are two  butterflies on the sea breezes…

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Life is a rush…

So here I am sitting in a hotel lobby in Ft. Worth, Texas enjoying a fine cup of the house java at the Marriott Town Place Suites.  It is early Sunday morning and once again I have time to reflect upon the activities that brought me here and how they may be different in my future lifestyle on the road to retirement.

One of the “fun jobs” I have in my current working life is that of an NCAA statistician. What that does for me is to allow me to watch football games from the press box and basketball games from near midcourt – front row. Now if you knew how much of a college sports junkie I was you would understand just how cool this is to me. And this is the single most significant thing I will miss from my working life after I retire. But the events of yesterday have allowed me to let go of even this most sacred part of my working life…

SouthwestClassicCropYesterday, I was to drive from my home to Arlington, Texas to work as a statistician for the University of Arkansas vs. Texas A&M University Southwest Classic game in Dallas Cowboy’s stadium. Cool, huh!!!! Well let me tell you about that day…

It started well as my bride and I awoke and went to one of our favorite places for breakfast and hit the road well ahead of schedule. Nothing could mess up this day – right? We wanted to arrive early enough so we could attend one of two tailgates depending upon which one was closer to us… So we are nearing Dallas’s Stadium about 3.5 hours before game time which is great for tailgating.

But….. we suddenly encountered a parking lot like situation on the road leading into the area where we were to park. We could actually see the lot I had a parking pass for but it took us 45 minutes to go the 1/4 mile to the lot… compounding this was the fact that we passed by one tailgate on the way in and it looked as if it would be over a 1/2 mile hike to it and back – so we couldn’t go there… By the time we parked and got to the stadium it was evident there would be no tailgating for us…

dallas stadium Oct0 2010

So, up to the press box,  I worked the game, the Aggies lost… Oh well, it was expected. No problem, we will drive to our hotel in Ft. Worth and go out on the town and have fun… Well we thought the traffic coming into the stadium was bad but the exiting traffic was even worse… We get to the hotel only to find it is overbooked… they find us another one… we finally get to it about 8:30 pm and are very hungry… ask the hotel staff about where to go eat ad they direct us to a trolley that runs every 12 minutes… make that 25!!!!

So we make it downtown and learn the last trolley runs at 10:00 pm so not much time to enjoy the a dinner and some nightlife. Finally we settle on a little Italian place and order our food… 35 minutes later it arrives so we ask for it to go so we can catch the last trolley.  We get to the stop at 9:35 and hoping we haven’t missed the last run… at 9:57 we start walking back to the hotel and plan to flag a cab down when the trolley finally arrives… back to our hotel and it is nearly 10:15! We finish dinner and realize the day is shot… We really had no fun today as we were rushed in everything we tried to do with no time to enjoy it at all…

So what does the long story really mean and why am I writing about it? You see working games such as this one is the highlight of my current working life. However, when I reflect back about this event and I realize that we were rushed the whole time while just trying to have a little fun!!! So now I am better prepared to shed this vestige of my working life as well and I truly look forward to life without a rushed schedule…

… hurry up March 2011…

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Winterizing an RV–a checklist…

Taos 1980Recently I thought what would we need to do to make sure we didn’t have problems in our future RV when a cold spell comes upon us and we wake up to freezing temperatures.  I came across a loads and loads of suggestions and tips on making sure the RV is ready for the winter.  So I created this list below which is a list of items that I will want to get into the habit of monitoring and checking each and every winter.

  • The RV exterior doesn’t necessarily need winterizing however, keeping it cleaned and waxed will protect the paint and the seals as well as prevent the seams from getting degraded over time.
  • The roof should be at least inspected 3-4 times per year for any areas where the sealant has deteriorated. Since water is the #1 enemy to RV's make sure to check around all vents, A/C' s, antennas and any other place where a  seal was necessary to prevent water infiltration.
  • Slide seals should be treated with a UV protection lubricant such as Dicor at least twice a year. This will keep the seals from drying out and cracking and prevent drafts in the wintertime.
  • The A/C unit should be checked at least twice a year as well. Four times a year inspect the filters (if it has them) and replace as needed. If we are sitting in winter for a long time we might want to cover our A/C unit to prevents UV damage to the cover.  This also keeps debris out of the unit and weathering of the seals around it.
  • House Batteries should be checked frequently to make sure the water level in the cells is good. This will prolong the life of our batteries and insures that a good charge is present when we need the cold cranking amps!
  • Water Heater Tanks have an Anode Rod that by design will break down and disintegrate over time. So many people out there suggest we inspect the Anode Rod twice a year and replace it when needed. This not only extends the life of the tank but will ensure that we are getting timely hot water. Also, it is wise to flush the hot water tank once or twice a year and to clean out the gas piping on the hot water heater as well.
  • Water fittings is another area of concern.  Check all the water fittings as they tend to  loosen over time. Tightening these and monitoring for leaks will help prevent a disaster. Also,if installed, change the water filters if we have not done so recently.
  • The refrigerator and its exterior compartments need to be periodically checked and kept clean and free of debris for safe and efficient operation, as well as to prevent fires.
  • Winter is a good time to check our generator’s log book and see how many hours it's been since we last performed an oil and filter change. Also a good time to check for loose bolts and nuts to be sure they are tight.
  • Tires, tires, tires!... They need to be checked at least monthly for proper tire pressure. Tread can look brand new but the tires may not be trustworthy so use tire covers to help prevent damage from the ultraviolet rays. Good time to check the lug nuts for proper torque.
  • Other items to check are lubricating all the miscellaneous items that require it, such as awning rollers and stabilizers as well as squirting graphite into our locks to ensure good working order. If we have a washer/dryer winter is a good time to clean the lint out of the dryer vent. Changing smoke detector and carbon monoxide batteries is good to do as is to check our fire extinguisher gauges.

Now I don’t even own a motorhome yet so I am sure this list is not exhaustive – however, this will provide me a starting point from which to work with when I do own one… and it may serve as a reminder to those of you who do own one that now is the time to start thinking about the upcoming colder weather…